Posts by CoonDawg

18

Men and Their Tools (I finally get it)

by hemp lover in

jw
friends

bought my first drill today, oh, boy, .

took a drive down to mcrae's hardware.

and though my tool is rather small.

CoonDawg

I AM the tool man in my neighborhood. My wife cracks up every time I get into a home improvement project. Run into a jam? there's another power tool in the garage that will get you out of it. Also, it's not just ANY tools, either. I never waste my money on cheap tools (that may in fact accomplish the job)...noooooooooooooooooooooo. I have to get the top quality name brand tool because I just have to. It says so somewhere. Black & Decker? HAHAHAHA....I laugh at you. Why get this brand when I can spend twice as much to get two more features and it will say Makita or Milwaukee, Porter Cable, or Bosch? I now have a new home where, not only does my wife have a garage in which to park her car...but I also have a detatched two car garage for my playhouse. I can't wait to start aquiring stationary wood working tools. Just think of all the cool crap I'll be able to do with a surface planer, tablesaw and lathe!

Ern

PS...I used to work at a hardware store for a lot of years where I had an open credit account. I spent LOTS of time owing my soul to the company store.

21

Did you lie before getting married in the KH?

by Samuel Thorsen in

jw
friends

as you know every young couple who is planning to get married in the kh are asked a question about "clean conduct" a week or two before the wedding.

if you admit to have been fooling around to much you can forget about the kh and go and get married elsewhere.. i'm not married myself, but i was engaged to be married once and my soon-to-be father in law (an elder) recommended a certain elder to do the marriage stuff in the kh because he was a kind of easy on the mantadory questions.. fortunatly in never got that far because me and my girl split up about 2 months before the planned wedding, but i have been to a lot of kh weddings and i know for sure that some of the couples had to lie to cover up their conduct to get married in the hall.. but how common is this?.

did you lie before getting maried in the kh, or do you know someone who did?.

CoonDawg

I actually was honest. When my first wife and I were dating, things got hot and heavy...and I at least got her out of all her clothes except her panties. We managed to stop short of doing the deed...(too bad, if I'd have sampled the goods, I'd have known that I'd spend the next 8 years making a close relationship with Rosie Palmer...) There was an elderly elder that I happened to work with who was at "the meeting". When they asked us and I admitted (partially) what happened...he wanted to get clear on the issue. He hemmed and hawed for the right thing to say. I finally told him "just be blunt"...to which he asked "Well, were you trying to get into her pants or just grabbing a feel?" LOL

Hearing this out of the mouth of a seventy something year old elder was pretty funny. I (of course) told him it was just to cop a feel...but I'd have done anything to get them drawers off her. So, we got married in the KH. I was 19 and a virgin on my wedding night. It was her second marriage, so she showed me what little of the ropes she actually knew...wich wasn't much. Thank goodness for my secret porn stash to at least give me some clues.

Ern

4

What kind of beauty?

by duffy in

jw
friends

i saw an awake on the sidewalk asking what kind of beauty really matters.

i'll tell ya what i learned as a teenager and twenty-something among the jw's; the beauty of your posessions.

a guy could be the most mysoginistic troll but if he had the cool car, the spikey hair, the right clothes, the "sisters" flocked to him while an average looking guy (me )who tried living along the wtbs rules; meanial job, modest attire and attitude, couldn't catch a break from the golddiggers sisters.

CoonDawg

Yep...been there, done that. Girls liked to go on dates...for what you would treat them to, but when it came down to a relationship, they wanted the guys with the loot.

So they pursued guys with money, landed them and in a few years were bitchin' to the drab guys like me about what a jackhole their husband was being.

I too, was one of the "nice guys" that sisters liked to tell their marital troubles to. Had I not been so freakin' naive, I could have nailed lots of them...including some that should have been unattainable to me. I remember one sister who's abusive hubby was a total a-hole who used to maneuver things to work in service with me...even alone at times. She had a young child and would interminably be whipping out her breast to nurse the child...even when the boy wasn't fussing or hungry. She ended up DF for finding someone willing to nail her, but it wasn't me. and she was a real hottie too. Guess it's just another regret!

Ern

7

Free trade, Globalization, good or bad?

by JH in

jw
friends

since many years now, we hear alot about globalization.

i know that many jobs went to china and india because they work at small wages compared to here.. personally, i don't like globalization and free trade.

i t think that many jobs were lost because of it.

CoonDawg

Personally, I think, based on the evidence, that globalization is inevitable. It's already here. Having said that, "free trade" seems to me to be the wrong thing to shoot for. I think it would be better for all to pursue FAIR trade. The reason that I say this is because this would help make certain nations accountable who love to export and expect low foreign tarriffs yet who like to restrict imports from said country with high tarriffs and lots of red tape. For example, if the Japaneese were held to their own import standards, you may likely see a new asian war. Same with China. Yet, here in the US, these two countries seem to be supplying huge ammounts of goods for pennies on the dollar.

Fair trade seems to be the way to go.

JMO, of course...

Ern

35

Is Walmart right or wrong?

by JH in

jw
friends

here in quebec, walmart decided to close a walmart store because the 190 employees wanted to become unionized.

walmart said that they weren't making money at that store, and that's why they are closing.

we all know that the real reason why walmart wants to close is because the employees want to be unionized.. in this day and age, do you think that walmart is right, or the employees?.

CoonDawg

Wal Mart has a business model that is greatly admired. Having said that, Costco also has a successful business model, yet they actually pay their employees a desireable wage and benefits. Does it cut into the company profits? Sure, but it also engenders employee loyalty. You get more quality people and keep them longer. Wal Mart is so huge, that they are the ones who drive the industry. They are the place that can tell a manufacturer what they want and what they will pay for it. Because they are the biggest game in town, companies will shut down local plants and send the jobs overseas...all to meet Wal Mart's demands. It's trickle down economics at it's finest because ultimately, the poor schlep who lost his job because Wal-Mart had to save $.50 in costs...is now having to shop at this place that made him lose his job because a) they are the only game in town and b) they undersell everyone.

For an example of what Wal-Mart thinks of unions...a while back, some stores meat cutters decided to unionize. They were well along in their plans and approached management. What did management do? Well, this story is why you buy completely pre-packaged meat at wal mart. The closest thing they have to a meat cutter is the person who takes the packages out of boxes and puts it in the refrigerator case. They don't want unionization, they will find a way to shut it down. They don't want to be accountable for holding many workers under the hours limits so that they don't have to pay full time employee benefits. They don't want to have to answer for things like "peasant life insurance"....a practice where, if you want to work there, you sign permission for them to take out life insurance on you...even if you are just a greeter....and they continue to pay it even after you have left their employ....but if you die, they get the benefits. To me, this is such a bastardization of what free society is supposed to be about. They are scumbags and since they are the only real place in town, it pains me every time I give them money.

Ern

21

WHY DO PRISONERS DISCOVER "RELIGION"?

by Mary in

jw
friends

why is it that a number of people who commit the most henious of crimes, suddenly become "born again christians"--usually while sitting on death row?

do they think this somehow absolves them of what they did?

i remember when karla fay tucker was interviewed shortly before her execution (in texas) a few years ago.

CoonDawg

I too am skeptical of jailhouse conversions. My first wife had a cousin in the klink for some drug charges. She started "witnessing" to him and he professed interest. She was tickled to death, though I quickly got tired of her accepting collect calls from the jail all the time. Eventually, he was going to get out and come to the hall with us, blah blah blah....she gave him money repeatedly through this process for "incidentals" in jail. The minute he got out, after being a good "god fearing" convict....he skipped the part where he was supposed to have a joyful reunion with those of us he'd leaned on in jail. Within 7 days, he was rushed to the hospital a victim of an overdose....never looking back, ended right back in jail for his parole violations.

I also knew another JW who'd been convicted of brutally murdering an old lady and robbing her home, then trying to cover it up by burning the mobile home she'd lived in. In his jailhouse conversion, the only good to come of it, because he was going to get the needle, was his confession to a prior unsolved murder to "give the family peace".

Sure there may be some genuine conversions, but I think that they are the proverbial needle in the haystack. I'm just saying...keep a healthy does of cynicism when considering these things.

Ern

7

GERALDO RIVERA MAKES ME SICK

by Adams_Rib in

jw
friends

geraldo rivera makes me sick.

he says that if this were not michael jackson all the reporters would be going....'huh?

this does not make sense.'.

CoonDawg

Personally, I think Geraldo is the archtype for the reporter character in the Die Hard movies. He's a total scumbag and I don't know about any of you, but I cheered back when he got his nose broken with a chair because of his own stupidity. At least Springer is honest that his show is low rent and sensationalism at it's lurid best. Geraldo has always tried to portray himself as giving "hard news", which is why he lost his credibility. Hey, Fox can keep him. He and Bill O'Reilley and Sean Hannity as well as Ollie North can just have a never ending love fest trying to figure out who's the bigger liar and bigger scumbag.

Ern

17

So my neighbor said the awesomest thing to JWs..

by jwbot in

jw
friends

ok my landlords daughter and her husband max live above us.

they are a really great family, very nice and cool.

anyway once in a while we have a good conversation with each other and a while ago i had told max about my family situation and a little counter-witnessing.

CoonDawg

My best friend is a rather imposing figure. He knows what I have been through with this screwed up religion and the way my ex still uses it against my daughter and I. He sure gives them an earful everytime. He's my real brother. In fact, there are times he gets angrier at the dubs that I ever do. Once we were in New York at a service plaza on the NY Throughway (upstate). We'd stopped to eat breakfast (btw...we were driving cross country as a team in a semi) and some JW's were ~~witnessing~~ in the parking lot. They asked us if we wanted the magazines. My friend took them and ripped them up in front of them. I told them that I'd left and that sometime, if they were smart enough to figure it out, they would too.

Ern

49

Bush: Work three jobs? That's fantastic!

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashss.htm

bush: holding three jobs 'uniquely american'.

tues feb 8 2005 9:27:01 et.

CoonDawg

Please explain to me what exactly Clinton did that created jobs and what Bush has / has not done to create jobs?

Well, how about for starters, passing an economic plan that balanced the budget and that would create a surplus. This created an environment where confidence was very high. Manufactuers increased the size of the workforce and everything hummed along quite nicely. We're talking 22 million new jobs over an 8 year period. When he said "It's the economy, stupid" in his campaign, it wasn't an empty promise, but one acted on. (passed without one single republican vote, i might add)

Before 9-11, Bush started in by totally negating the surplus that he was left. He has continued it by allowing this atmosphere of outsourcing everything you can while giving huge tax cuts to the richest segments of our society and not making corporations pay their fair share. Remember the $300 checks we all got in the mail? That wasn't "our money"...all that was is a loan against whatever refund we were going to get when we filed our taxes later that year. It was a PR stunt pure and simple. Then this administration and congress exacerbates the problem by increasing tax cuts to the wealthy, all the while spending like a drunken sailor, increasing the debt of our nation and weakening our financial position to the point where the majority of big player bankers in the world now choose to deal in Euros rather than Dollars, as has been traditional. People are nervous and the consumer confidence numbers continue to show this. When business owners are nervous, they tend not to expand, as we have been seeing lately.

Also, please understand that my position is that Mr. Bush's plan isn't a good one. In fact, many legitimate voices in economics seem to be of the opinion that this isn't a good idea. I would like to see more of a social security plus plan. One where the protections of social security are left in place but where people are encouraged by other incentives to save for their own retirement, and not in some forced way where their options will be limited, but where they will have a base that is secure. This way, they won't be totally screwed because of the whims of the marketplace.

JMO, of course...

Ern

(of the "neither Republican or Democrat" class)

49

Bush: Work three jobs? That's fantastic!

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashss.htm

bush: holding three jobs 'uniquely american'.

tues feb 8 2005 9:27:01 et.

CoonDawg

Yes, it's been apparent that though social security needs some tweaking to remain solvent...things would be different if politicians from BOTH parties would quit dipping their fingers into the fund. When slick willie left the whitehouse, social security had a comfey surplus. It's long gone now and we are still borrowing against social security. No wonder we're in such shape. Also, conservatives have had it as their goals since the 1930's to roll back ALL of the New Deal reforms...especially social security. Now, with his self perceived mandate and majorities in both houses, the conservatives have it as their aim to ram this down the american people's throats. Also, CRR...I imagine that your dad paid in or your mom is considered disabled. and if she never paid anything in, I imagine her benifits aren't much to "write home" about.

Also, CRR, you are correct that Bush didn't take office until 1-20-01...but the fact remains that he STILL has a Negative Job creation record. I don't care how you slice it...he's the only president since Herbert Hoover to not creat a single job in his first term. The numbers just don't lie.

Ern